Northstars, Thunder through to semi-finals

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The Newcastle Northstars and the Perth Thunder have progressed to the semi-final stage of the AIHL Finals Series, in front of a sold-out O’Brien Icehouse on Friday.

The Thunder put down a spirited challenge from the 6^th seed Melbourne Mustangs in the first preliminary final, eventually running away with the game in the third period for a 5-2 win.

Alexi Toivonen turned on a 40-save performance in between the pipes, forming the bedrock of the victory for Perth.

In an even first period, Yannic Lodge opened the scoring for the Thunder less than 3 minutes into the game. It took until the 5:20 remaining mark for Brody Lindal to tie things up to send it to the first break 1-1.

Riley Langille’s goal less than 20 seconds into the second period, was cancelled out by a 5-minute major to Perth’s Kolby Johnson less than 20 seconds later. Nathan Dunkley capitalised on the ensuing power play to make it 2-2, but David Kudla’s late strike would take Perth into the break 3-2 up with 20 minutes to play.

Perth didn’t let up the pressure and despite being outshot 15-13 by an increasingly desperate Mustangs, they would add another through Jake Hamilton before Ville Tenosalmi sealed an empty-netter in the final minute, to grant the team from the west a semi-final date with the Canberra Brave.



In the second preliminary final, the Newcastle Northstars proved too good for the Brisbane Lightning, taking a 6-1 victory over the 5^th seeded team and punching their ticket to the first semi-final.

In the third game between the two teams in 8 days, Newcastle piled on the offence from the get-go and outshot Brisbane 13-6 in the first period. Wehebe Darge and Evgenii Skatchkov both beat Matus Trnka in the Lightning net, with Carson Miller tallying in response for a 2-1 difference heading into the break.

It would prove to be the lone goal for the Lightning for the remainder of the game, as Newcastle took control through the second. The recently returned Ryan Annesley, Beau Taylor and Kim Tallberg all added one each for the NSW side, before Casey Kubara sealed the deal for the Novocastrians in the third period for a 5-goal win.

Charlie Smart stopped 20 of 21 shots faced in the win, while Trnka went 32 from 38.

The Northstars will face the minor premiers Melbourne Ice on Saturday afternoon at 2pm AEST in the first semi-final, while the Thunder take on the defending champion Canberra Brave in the second semi-final at 6pm AEST.